Escrow
A Dictionary of Law · Henry Campbell Black · 1891
A Dictionary of Law
A scroll; a writing; a deed. Particularly a deed delivered by the grantor into the hands of a third person, to be held by the latter until the happening of a contingeney or performance of a condition, and then by him delivered to the grantee. A grant may be deposited by the grantor with a third person, to be delivered on the performance of a condition, and on delivery by the depositary it will take effect. While in the possession of the third person, and subject to condition, it is called an “escrow.”
Civil Code Cal. § 1057; Civil Code Duk. § 609.
The state or condition of a deed which is conditionally held by a third person, or the possession and retention of a deed by a third person pending a condition; as when an instrument is said to be delivered “in escrow.” This use of the term, however, is a perversion of its meaning.